The sclerochronology of hard clams, Mercenaria spp., from the South-Eastern U.S.A.: A method of elucidating the zooarchaeological records of seasonal resource procurement and seasonality in prehistoric shell middens

Journal of Archaeological Science

Volumn 24, Issue 9, 1997, Pages 825-840

  Quitmyer, Irvy R ^a   Jones, Douglas S ^a   Arnold, William S ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA   (United States)

^b FLORIDA MARINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE   (United States)

Author keywords

Human seasonality; Mercenaria spp; Sclerochronology; Season of resource procurement; South eastern U.S.A.; Zooarchaelogogy

Indexed keywords

ARCHAEOLOGY; COASTAL AREA; HISTORICAL STUDY; HUMAN SEASONALITY; HUMAN SETTLEMENT; PREHISTORIC; SCLEROCHRONOLOGY; SEASONALITY; SETTLEMENT HISTORY; SHELL MIDDEN;

USA, (SOUTHEAST);

EID: 0031409847     PISSN: 03054403     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1006/jasc.1996.0163     Document Type: Article

References (67)

1. Abbott, R. T. (1974). American Seashells. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.
2. Anderson, T. F. & Arthur, M. A. (1983). Stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon and their application to sedimentological and paleoenvironmental problems. In (M. A. Arthur, Organizer) Stable Isotopes in Sedimentary Geology: SEPM Short Course No. 10 . Tulsa, OK: Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, pp. 1-151.
3. Ansell, A. D. (1968). The rate of growth of the hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria (L.) throughout the geographical range. Journal du Conseil, Permanent International pour l'Exploration de la Mer 31, 364-409.
4. Arnold, W. S., Marelli, D. C., Bert, T. M., Jones, D. S. & Quitmyer, I. R. (1991). Habitat-specific growth of hard clams, Mercenaria mercenaria (L.), from the Indian River, Florida. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 147, 245-265.
5. Arnold, W. S., Bert, T. M., Marelli, D. C., Cruz-Lopez, H. & Gill, P. A. (1996). Genotype-specific growth of hard clams (genus Mercenaria) in a hybrid zone: variation among habitats. Marine Biology 125, 129-139.
6. Arnold, W. S., Bert, T. M., Quitmyer, I. R. & Jones, D. S. (in press). Seasonal growth of hard clams (genus: Mercenaria spp.) from the Indian River. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology.
7. Aten, L. E. (1982). Determining seasonality of Rangia cuneata from Gulf Coast shell middens. Bulletin of the Texas Archaeological Society 52, 179-200.
8. Austin, R. J. & Russo, M. (1989). Limited Excavations at the Catfish Creek Site (8SO608), Sarasota County, Florida. St. Petersburg, FL: Piper Archaeological Research, Inc.
9. Braley, C. O., O'Steen, L. D. & Quitmyer, I. R. (1986). Archaeological investigations at 9McI41, Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, McIntosh County, Georgia. Prepared for the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, Contract No. 14-16-004-84-019, by Southeastern Archaeological Services, Inc., Athens, GA.
10. Brown, I. W. (1994). Recent trends in the archaeology of the Southeastern United States. Journal of Archaeological Research 2, 45-111.
11. Claassen, C. P. (1982). Shellfishing patterns: An Analytical Study of Prehistoric Shell from North Carolina Coastal Middens. Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
12. Claassen, C. P. (1986). Shellfishing seasons in the prehistoric Southeastern United States. American Antiquity 51, 21-37.
13. Claassen, C. P. (1990). Investigation of Monthly Growth in Shellfish for Application to Archaeology. Final Report, National Science Foundation Grant #BNS-8507714.
14. Clark, G. R. II (1979). Seasonal growth variations in the shells of recent and prehistoric specimens of Mercenaria mercenaria from St. Catherines Island, Georgia. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 51, 161-179.
15. Clark, G. R. II. & Lutz, R. A. (1982). Seasonal patterns in shell microstructure of Mercenaria mercenaria along the U.S. Atlantic coast. Abstract Program, Geological Society of America 14, 464.
16. Coutts, P. J. F. (1970). Bivalve growth patterning as a method for seasonal dating in archaeology. Nature 226, 874.
17. Crook, M. (1986). Mississippi Period archaeology of the Georgia coastal zone. Athens: University of Georgia. Georgia Archaeological Research Design Paper No. 1.
18. Deith, M. R. (1983). Molluscan calendars: the use of growth-line analysis to establish seasonality of shellfish collection at the Mesolithic site of Morton, Fife. Journal of Archaeological Science 10, 423-440.
19. Deith, M. R. (1986). Subsistence strategies at a Mesolithic camp site: evidence from stable isotope analysis of shells. Journal of Archaeological Science 13, 61-78.
20. Epstein, S. & Lowenstam, H. A. (1953). Temperature-shell-growth relations of recent and interglacial Pleistocene shoal water biota from Bermuda. Journal of Geology 61, 424-438.
21. Epstein, S., Buchsbaum, R, Lowenstam, H. A. & Urey, H. C. (1953). Revised carbonate-water isotopic temperature scale. Geological Society of America Bulletin 64, 1315-1326.
22. Fritz, L. W. & Haven, D. S. (1983). Hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria, shell growth patterns in the Chesapeake Bay. Fisheries Bulletin 81, 697-708.
23. Greene, G. T. (1978). Population Structure, Growth and Mortality of Hard Clams at Selected Locations in Great South Bay, New York. M.Sc. Thesis, SUNY at Stony Brook, New York.
24. Grizzle, R. E. & Lutz, R. A. (1988). Descriptions of macroscopic banding patterns in sectioned and polished shells of Mercenaria mercenaria from southern New Jersey. Journal of Shellfish Research 7, 367-370.
25. Grossman, E. L. & Ku, T-L. (1986). Oxygen and carbon isotopic fractionation in biogenic aragonite: temperature effects. Chemical Geology 59, 59-74.
26. Horvath, E. A., Chapman, A. A., Martin, D. B. & McGowan, R. (1993). Preliminary Report on the Archaeological Investigations at the Seminole Rest Site (CANA-063/8VO124) Canaveral National Seashore, Volusia County, Florida. Tallahassee, FL: National Park Service, Southeast Archaeological Center.
27. Hudson, J. H., Shinn, E., Halley, R. & Lidz, B. (1976). Sclerochronology: a new tool for interpreting past environments. Geology 4, 361-364.
28. Jones, D. S. (1983). Sclerochronology: reading the record of the molluscan shell. American Scientist 71, 384-391.
29. Jones, D. S. (1980). Annual cycle of shell growth increment formation in two continental shelf bivalves and its paleoecologic significance. Paleobiology 6, 331-340.
30. Jones, D. S., Thompson, I. & Ambrose, W. (1978). Age and growth rate determinations for the Atlantic surf clam, Spisula solidissima (Bivalvia:Mactracea), based on internal growth lines in shell cross-sections. Marine Biology 47, 63-70.
31. Jones, D. S., Arthur, M. A. & Allard, D. J. (1989). Sclerochronological records of temperature and growth from shells of Mercenaria mercenaria from Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. Marine Biology 102, 225-234.
32. Jones, D. S., Quitmyer, I. R., Arnold, W. S. & Marelli, D. C. (1990). Annual shell banding, age, and growth rate of hard clams (Mercenaria spp.) from Florida. Journal of Shellfish Research 9, 215-225
33. Kelley, R. L. (1983). Hunter-gatherer mobility strategies. Journal of Anthropological Research 39, 277-306
34. Kennish, M. J. (1980). Shell microgrowth analysis: Mercenaria mercenaria (Linne') as a type example for research in population dynamics. In (D.C. Rhoads & R. A. Lutz, Eds) Skeletal Growth of Aquatic Organisms. New York: Plenum Publishing Corp., pp. 255-294.
35. 16O record in shell calcite. Biological Bulletin (Woods Hole) 167, 186-199.
36. Lightfoot, K. G. & Cerrato, R. M. (1989). Regional patterns of clam harvesting along the Atlantic coast of North America. Archaeology of Eastern North America 17, 31-46.
37. Loosanoff, V. L. (1939). Effect of temperature upon shell movements of clams, Venus mercenaria (L.). Biological Bulletin (Woods Hole) 76, 171-182.
38. Marquardt, W. H. (1992). The Calusa domain: an introduction. In (W. H. Marquardt, Ed.) Culture and Environment in the Domain of the Calusa. Gainesville: University of Florida, Institute of Archaeology and Paleoenvironmental Studies Monograph 1, 1-6.
39. Milanich, J. T. & Fairbanks, C. H. (1980). Florida Archaeology. New York: Academic Press.
40. Ott, L. (1988). An Introduction to Statistical Methods and Data Analysis. PWS-Kent Publishing Company, Boston.
41. Peterson, C. H., Ducan, P. B., Summerson, H. C. & Beal, B. F. (1985). Annual band deposition within shells of hard clams, Mercenaria mercenaria: consistency across habitat near Cape Lookout, North Carolina. Fisheries Bulletin 83, 671-677.
42. Quitmyer, I. R. (1989) Paleoseasonality study of the hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria excavated from Minim Island (38GE46), South Carolina. In (C. T. Espenshade & P. E. Brockington, Eds) An Archaeological Study of the Minim Island Site: Early Woodland Dynamics in Coastal South Carolina, Jr. Prepared for the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, Charleston District, Contract No. DACW60-87-C-0005, pp. 34-36 and 211-215.
43. Quitmyer, I. R. (1992a). Determination of habitat exploitation and seasonality from selected zooarchaeological indicators. In (W. H. Marquardt, Ed.) A Window to the Past: An Archaeological Discovery at Historic Spanish Point, Sarasota County, Florida. Sarasota, FL: Archaeological Consultants Inc., pp. 35-80
44. Quitmyer, I. R. (1992b) Seasonal growth patterns in the shells of southern quahog Mercenaria campechiensis from the Palmetto Lane Midden (8So96), Sarasota, Florida. The Florida Anthropologist 45, 256-265.
45. Quitmyer, I. R. (1995a). Season of harvest and age structure of Mercenaria spp. excavated from St. Johns II (A.D. 590-1400) archaeological contexts of the Mosquito Lagoon, Florida. In (E. Horvath, Ed.) Final Report on the Archaeological Investigations at the Seminole Rest Site (CANA-063/8VO124), Canaveral National Seashore, Volusia County. Tallahassee, FL: National Park Service, Southeast Archaeological Center, pp. 92-132.
46. Quitmyer, I. R. (1995b). The Sclerochronology of Quahog Clams (Mercenaria spp.) from the Late Prehistoric Archaeological Site of 38HR254, Horry County, South Carolina. Prepared for Brockington and Associates, Atlanta.
47. Quitmyer, I. R. (in press). The prehistoric harvest of estuarine resources and site seasonality of the Pineland Site Complex, Charlotte Harbor, Florida. In (K. J. Walker & W. H. Marquardt, Eds) The Archaeology of Pineland: A Coastal Southwest Florida Village Complex, A.D. 100-1600. Gainesville: University of Florida, Institute of Archaeology and Paleoenvironmental Studies Monograph 4 (1998).
48. Quitmyer, I. R., Cannon, D. & Jones, D. S. (1986). Paleoseasonality determination based on incremental shell growth in the hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria, and its implications for future analysis of coastal shell middens found along the Georgia Coast. Southeastern Archaeological Conference Bulletin No. 29: Abstracts of the forty third Southeastern Conference, Nashville, Tennessee.
49. Quitmyer, I. R., Hale, H. S. & Jones, D. S. (1985). Paleoseasonality determination based on incremental shell growth in the hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria, and its implications for future analysis of three Georgia coastal shell middens. Southeastern Archaeology 4, 27-40.
50. Quitmyer, I. R., Jones, D. S. & Arnold, W. S. (1990). The periodicity of incremental shell growth in the hard clam (Mercenaria spp.) and archaeological site paleoseasonality in the southern part of its range. Paper presented at the Sixth International Conference of the International Council for Archaeozoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
51. Quitmyer, I. R., Jones, D. S. & Borremans, N. (1990). Annual incremental shell formation in the southern quahog, Mercenaria campechiensis, from Suwannee Reef, Florida and its use in determining the paleoseasonality of archaeological shell middens. Florida Scientist 53, Supplement 1, 7.
52. Quitmyer, I. R. & Jones, D. S. (1992). Calendars of the coast: seasonal growth increment patterns in shells of modern and archaeological southern quahogs, Mercenaria campechiensis, from Charlotte Harbor, Florida. In (W. H. Marquardt, Ed.) Culture and the Environment in the Domain of the Calusa. Gainesville: University of Florida, Institute of Archaeology and Paleoenvironmental Studies Monograph 1, pp. 247-262.
53. Quitmyer, I. R. & Massaro, M. (1997). Zooarchaeology of Useppa Island. In (W. H. Marquardt, Ed.) Archaeology of Useppa Island. Gainesville: University of Florida, Institute of Archaeology and Paleoenvironmental Studies Monograph 3.
54. Rhoads, D. C. & Lutz, R. A. (Eds) (1980). Skeletal Growth of Aquatic Organisms. New York: Plenum Press.
55. Rhoads, D. C. & Pannella, G. (1970). The use of molluscan shell growth patterns in ecology and paleoecology. Lethaia 3, 143-161.
56. Romanek, C. S., Jones, D. S., Williams, D. F., Krantz, D. E. & Radtke, R. (1987). Stable isotopic investigation of physiological and environmental changes recorded in shell carbonate from the giant clam, Tridacna maxima. Marine Biology 94, 385-393.
57. Ropes, J. W. (1987). Preparation of acetate peels of valves from the ocean quahog, Arctica islandica, for age determinations. NOAA Technical Report NMFS 50. Washington: U.S. Department of Commerce.
58. Russo, M. (1991a). A method for the measurement of season and duration of oyster collection: two case studies from the prehistoric southeast U.S. Coast. Journal of Archaeological Science 18, 205-221.
59. Russo, M. (1991b). Archaic Sedentism on the Florida Coast: A Case Study from Horr's Island. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville.
60. Russo, M., Cordell, A., Newsom, L. & Austin, R. (1989). Phase III Archaeological Excavations at Edgewater Landing, Volusia County, Florida. Prepared for Randor/Edgewater Landing, Inc. by Piper Archaeological Research, Inc., St. Petersburg, Florida.
61. Russo, M., Cordell, A. S. & Ruhl, D. L. (1993). The Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve Phase III Final Report. SEAC Accession Number: Contract (CA-5000-9-8011). Prepared for the National Park Service, Southeast Archaeological Center, Tallahassee, Florida.
62. Russo, M., Cordell, A. S., Newsom, L. & Scudder, S. (1991). Faunal R eport on Horr's Island: the A rchaeology of the A rchaic and Glades Settlement and Subsistence Patterns. Prepared for the Marco Island, Florida: Key Marco Developments.
63. Russo, M. & Ste. Claire, D. (1992). Tomoka Stone: Archaic period coastal settlement in East Florida. The Florida Anthropologist 45, 336-346.
64. Saunders, R. & Russo, M. A. (1989). Meeting House Fields: Late Irene Phase Material Culture and Seasonality on St. Catherines Island. Ms. on file at the American Museum of Natural History, New York.
65. Steinen, K. (1984). Cultural occupation of the Georgia coastal marsh. Southeastern Archaeology 3, 164-172.
66. Watson, P. J. (1990). Trend and tradition in southeastern archaeology. Southeastern Archaeology 9, 43-54
67. Williams, D. F., Sommer, M. A. & Bender, M. L. (1977). Carbon isotopic compositions of recent planktonic foraminifera of the Indian Ocean. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 36, 391-403.